Space: The Longest Goodbye
NASA's goal to send astronauts to Mars would require a three-year absence from Earth, during which communication in real time would be impossible due to the immense distance. Meet the psychologists whose job is to keep astronauts mentally stable in outer space, as they are caught between their dream of reaching new frontiers and the basic human need to stay connected to home.
Episodes
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A Town Called Victoria | Episode 2
S25 E5 - 54m 12s
With the arson trial near, the suspect’s family argues his innocence. Meanwhile, facets of Victoria reveal the ingredients that might have turned him to hate and support for the town’s Muslim community begins to wane.
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A Town Called Victoria | Episode 1
S25 E4 - 54m 41s
A south Texas town is thrown into the national spotlight when a local mosque is burned down in an apparent hate crime. After the media moves on, the community is left to reflect on its complex history with racism.
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Three Chaplains
S25 E3 - 55m 43s
Muslim chaplains uphold the First Amendment and vow to protect service members' right to practice their faith freely, despite facing long-held prejudice and disapproval from their own communities. The Muslim chaplains work hard to ensure that all service members have access to religious materials, services, and resources regardless of the religious beliefs they hold.
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El Equipo
S25 E2 - 1h 25m
Legendary U.S. anthropologist Dr. Clyde Snow sets out to train a new group of Latin American students in the use of forensic anthropology. Their goal: to investigate disappearances in Argentina during the “dirty war”. The group expands its horizons, traveling to El Salvador, Bolivia and Mexico, doggedly working behind the scenes to establish the facts for the families of the victims.
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Sansón and Me
S25 E1 - 1h 25m
Filmmaker Rodrigo Reyes wants to document Sansón's story, an immigrant serving life in prison. Unable to film Sansón, the documentary creatively shares his narrative through reenactments of his letters, featuring his own family as actors.
Extras + Features
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Trailer | The Tuba Thieves
S25 E17 - 30s
What is the role of sound and what does it mean to listen? Hard of hearing filmmaker Alison O’Daniel uses a series of tuba thefts in Los Angeles high schools as a jumping-off point to explore these questions. Through several d/Deaf people telling stories in a unique game of telephone, the central mystery of The Tuba Thieves isn’t about theft of instruments; it’s about the nature of sound itself.
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Can Humans Get to Mars Without Going Insane?
S25 E16 - 12m 32s
Humanity's first Martian explorers will face extreme confinement, isolation and disruption of all bodily rhythms. The psychological stress from all of this could lead to a breakdown of social order among those on the mission – even mutiny. Are there lessons that can be learned about this from terrestrial explorers of the past?
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What an Antarctic Disaster Can Teach Us About Getting to Mars
S25 E16 - 15m 9s
A manned mission to Mars presents a huge array of challenges for scientists and explorers to figure out. Chief among them: how to keep humans sane and relatively content on the isolating, confining, and potentially years long journey to the red planet and back. Turns out, explorers from generations ago here on Earth survived similar challenges that tomorrow's astronauts can learn from.
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Watch Space: The Longest Goodbye with PBS Passport
S25 E16 - 30s
Blast off to Space: The Longest Goodbye, as NASA psychologists prepare astronauts for the extreme isolation required by a Mars mission.
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Trailer | Space: The Longest Goodbye
S25 E16 - 30s
NASA's goal to send astronauts to Mars would require a three-year absence from Earth, during which communication in real time would be impossible due to the immense distance. Meet the psychologists whose job is to keep astronauts mentally stable in outer space, as they are caught between their dream of reaching new frontiers and the basic human need to stay connected to home.
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Extended Trailer | Space: The Longest Goodbye
S25 E16 - 1m
NASA's goal to send astronauts to Mars would require a three-year absence from Earth, during which communication in real time would be impossible.
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Trailer | One With the Whale
S25 E15 - 30s
Hunting whales is a matter of life or death for the residents of St. Lawrence. When a shy Alaska Native teen becomes the youngest person ever to harpoon a whale for his village, his family is blindsided by thousands of keyboard activists brutally attacking him online—without full perspective on the importance of the hunt to his community's well-being.
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Trailer | Matter of Mind: My Parkinson’s
S25 E14 - 30s
In Matter of Mind: My Parkinson's, three people navigate their lives with resourcefulness and determination in the face of a degenerative illness, Parkinson’s disease. An optician pursues deep brain stimulation surgery; a mother raising a pre-teen daughter becomes a boxing coach and an advocate for exercise; and a cartoonist contemplates how he will continue to draw as his motor control declines.
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Trailer | A Thousand Pines
S25 E13 - 30s
Over the course of a grueling eight months, a crew of Oaxacan guest workers plant trees throughout the United States. This intimate portrait shows how hard it is to balance the physical demands of reforestation and extreme isolation while staying connected to the family back home.
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Trailer | Greener Pastures
S25 E12 - 30s
Following four multigenerational family farms in the Midwest over several years, Greener Pastures is a story of perseverance and survival within the farming industry in the heartland.
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RIP Local News
S25 E11 - 9m 3s
Some of the biggest news stories in our country were revealed by local journalists; from early 20th century lynchings to the Rodney King beating to the murder of Breonna Taylor, local news was there first. But as budgets drop and outlets disappear, this type of coverage is in jeopardy.
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Spring Season Trailer 2024 | Coming to Independent Lens
S25 - 1m
We’re blooming this spring with a lineup of docs, including Matter of Mind: My Parkinson's, Space: The Longest Goodbye, One With The Whale, and The Tuba Thieves. Stream Independent Lens with the PBS App.
Schedule
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Independent Lens
Free Chol Soo Lee
Saturday
May 18
1 Hour 30 Minutes
Sentenced to death for a 1973 murder, Korean immigrant Chol Soo Lee is set free after a pan-Asian solidarity movement of Korean, Japanese and Chinese Americans helps to overturn his conviction. -
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Independent Lens
The Donut King
Sunday
May 19
1 Hour 30 Minutes
The life story of Christy's Donuts founder Ted Ngoy, who built a multimillion-dollar company in the U.S. after fleeing Cambodia. -
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Independent Lens
Free Chol Soo Lee
Sunday
May 19
1 Hour 30 Minutes
Sentenced to death for a 1973 murder, Korean immigrant Chol Soo Lee is set free after a pan-Asian solidarity movement of Korean, Japanese and Chinese Americans helps to overturn his conviction. -
Image
Independent Lens
The Tuba Thieves
Monday
May 20
1 Hour 30 Minutes
Exploring the role of sound and what it means to listen. -
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Independent Lens
The Tuba Thieves
Tuesday
May 21
1 Hour 30 Minutes
Exploring the role of sound and what it means to listen. -
Image
Independent Lens
Free Chol Soo Lee
Wednesday
May 22
1 Hour 30 Minutes
Sentenced to death for a 1973 murder, Korean immigrant Chol Soo Lee is set free after a pan-Asian solidarity movement of Korean, Japanese and Chinese Americans helps to overturn his conviction. -
Image
Independent Lens
The Tuba Thieves
Wednesday
May 22
1 Hour 30 Minutes
Exploring the role of sound and what it means to listen. -
Image
Independent Lens
Free Chol Soo Lee
Thursday
May 23
1 Hour 30 Minutes
Sentenced to death for a 1973 murder, Korean immigrant Chol Soo Lee is set free after a pan-Asian solidarity movement of Korean, Japanese and Chinese Americans helps to overturn his conviction. -
Image
Independent Lens
The Tuba Thieves
Thursday
May 23
1 Hour 30 Minutes
Exploring the role of sound and what it means to listen. -
Image
Independent Lens
Free Chol Soo Lee
Thursday
May 23
1 Hour 30 Minutes
Sentenced to death for a 1973 murder, Korean immigrant Chol Soo Lee is set free after a pan-Asian solidarity movement of Korean, Japanese and Chinese Americans helps to overturn his conviction. -
Image
Independent Lens
The Tuba Thieves
Thursday
May 23
1 Hour 30 Minutes
Exploring the role of sound and what it means to listen. -
Image
Independent Lens
The Tuba Thieves
Saturday
May 25
1 Hour 30 Minutes
Exploring the role of sound and what it means to listen. -
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Independent Lens
Try Harder!
Saturday
May 25
1 Hour 30 Minutes
At San Francisco's Lowell High School, stressed out seniors chase college dreams. -
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Independent Lens
The Tuba Thieves
Sunday
May 26
1 Hour 30 Minutes
Exploring the role of sound and what it means to listen. -
Image
Independent Lens
Try Harder!
Sunday
May 26
1 Hour 30 Minutes
At San Francisco's Lowell High School, stressed out seniors chase college dreams. -
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Independent Lens
Beyond Utopia
Sunday
May 26
2 Hours
Stories of families attempting to escape oppression in North Korea. -
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Independent Lens
Beyond Utopia
Monday
May 27
2 Hours
Stories of families attempting to escape oppression in North Korea. -
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Independent Lens
Beyond Utopia
Monday
May 27
2 Hours
Stories of families attempting to escape oppression in North Korea.
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